This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.

Unclaimed
Rachel K. Gittman
Department of Biology and Coastal Studies Institute East Carolina University Greenville North Carolina USA

Honors and Awards

The user has no records in this section


Career Timeline

The user has no records in this section.


Short Biography

The user biography is not available.
Following
Followers
Co Authors
The list of users this user is following is empty.
Following: 0 users

Feed

Contributed paper
Published: 01 July 2021 in Conservation Science and Practice
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Shoreline hardening is a major driver of biodiversity and habitat loss in coastal ecosystems yet remains a common approach to coastal management globally. Using surveys of waterfront residents in North Carolina, USA, we sought to identify factors influencing individual shore-protection decisions and ultimately impacting coastal ecosystems, particularly coastal wetlands. We found that neighboring shore condition was the best predictor of respondent shore condition. Respondents with hardened shorelines were more likely to have neighbors with hardened shorelines, and to report that neighbors influenced their shore-protection choices than respondents with natural shorelines. Further, respondents who expressed climate-change skepticism and preference for shoreline hardening were opposed to shoreline-hardening restrictions. Despite preferring hardening, respondents ranked wetlands as highly valuable for storm protection and other ecosystem services, suggesting a disconnect between the ecological knowledge of individuals and social norms of shore-protection decisions. However, our results also suggest that efforts to increase the installation of living shorelines have the potential to conserve and restore important coastal habitats and support biodiversity along shorelines that may otherwise be degraded by hardening. Further, encouraging waterfront-property owners who have adopted living shorelines to recommend them to neighbors may be an effective strategy to initiate and reinforce pro-conservation social norms.

ACS Style

Rachel K. Gittman; Steven B. Scyphers; Christopher J. Baillie; Anna Brodmerkel; Jonathan H. Grabowski; Mariah Livernois; Abigail K. Poray; Carter S. Smith; F. Joel Fodrie. Reversing a tyranny of cascading shoreline‐protection decisions driving coastal habitat loss. Conservation Science and Practice 2021, e490 .

AMA Style

Rachel K. Gittman, Steven B. Scyphers, Christopher J. Baillie, Anna Brodmerkel, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Mariah Livernois, Abigail K. Poray, Carter S. Smith, F. Joel Fodrie. Reversing a tyranny of cascading shoreline‐protection decisions driving coastal habitat loss. Conservation Science and Practice. 2021; ():e490.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rachel K. Gittman; Steven B. Scyphers; Christopher J. Baillie; Anna Brodmerkel; Jonathan H. Grabowski; Mariah Livernois; Abigail K. Poray; Carter S. Smith; F. Joel Fodrie. 2021. "Reversing a tyranny of cascading shoreline‐protection decisions driving coastal habitat loss." Conservation Science and Practice , no. : e490.

Journal article
Published: 23 January 2020 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

In the United States, extensive investments have been made to restore the ecological function and services of coastal marine habitats. Despite a growing body of science supporting coastal restoration, few studies have addressed the suite of societally enabling conditions that helped facilitate successful restoration and recovery efforts that occurred at meaningful ecological (i.e., ecosystem) scales, and where restoration efforts were sustained for longer (i.e., several years to decades) periods. Here, we examined three case studies involving large-scale and long-term restoration efforts including the seagrass restoration effort in Tampa Bay, Florida, the oyster restoration effort in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and the tidal marsh restoration effort in San Francisco Bay, California. The ecological systems and the specifics of the ecological restoration were not the focus of our study. Rather, we focused on the underlying social and political contexts of each case study and found common themes of the factors of restoration which appear to be important for maintaining support for large-scale restoration efforts. Four critical elements for sustaining public and/or political support for large-scale restoration include: (1) resources should be invested in building public support prior to significant investments into ecological restoration; (2) building political support provides a level of significance to the recovery planning efforts and creates motivation to set and achieve meaningful recovery goals; (3) recovery plans need to be science-based with clear, measurable goals that resonate with the public; and (4) the accountability of progress toward reaching goals needs to be communicated frequently and in a way that the general public comprehends. These conclusions may help other communities move away from repetitive, single, and seemingly unconnected restoration projects towards more large-scale, bigger impact, and coordinated restoration efforts.

ACS Style

Bryan DeAngelis; Ariana Sutton-Grier; Allison Colden; Katie Arkema; Christopher Baillie; Richard Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Anthony Chatwin; Alyssa Dausman; Rachel Gittman; Holly Greening; Jessica Henkel; Rachel Houge; Ron Howard; A. Hughes; Jeremy Lowe; Steven Scyphers; Edward Sherwood; Stephanie Westby; Jonathan Grabowski. Social Factors Key to Landscape-Scale Coastal Restoration: Lessons Learned from Three U.S. Case Studies. Sustainability 2020, 12, 869 .

AMA Style

Bryan DeAngelis, Ariana Sutton-Grier, Allison Colden, Katie Arkema, Christopher Baillie, Richard Bennett, Jeff Benoit, Seth Blitch, Anthony Chatwin, Alyssa Dausman, Rachel Gittman, Holly Greening, Jessica Henkel, Rachel Houge, Ron Howard, A. Hughes, Jeremy Lowe, Steven Scyphers, Edward Sherwood, Stephanie Westby, Jonathan Grabowski. Social Factors Key to Landscape-Scale Coastal Restoration: Lessons Learned from Three U.S. Case Studies. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (3):869.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bryan DeAngelis; Ariana Sutton-Grier; Allison Colden; Katie Arkema; Christopher Baillie; Richard Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Anthony Chatwin; Alyssa Dausman; Rachel Gittman; Holly Greening; Jessica Henkel; Rachel Houge; Ron Howard; A. Hughes; Jeremy Lowe; Steven Scyphers; Edward Sherwood; Stephanie Westby; Jonathan Grabowski. 2020. "Social Factors Key to Landscape-Scale Coastal Restoration: Lessons Learned from Three U.S. Case Studies." Sustainability 12, no. 3: 869.

Policy and practice reviews article
Published: 28 August 2019 in Frontiers in Marine Science
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Coastal ecosystems are under pressure from a vast array of anthropogenic stressors, including development and climate change, resulting in significant habitat losses globally. Conservation policies are often implemented with the intent of reducing habitat loss. However, losses already incurred will require restoration if ecosystem functions and services are to be recovered. The United States has a long history of wetland loss and recognizes that averting loss requires a multi-pronged approach including mitigation for regulated activities and non-mitigation (voluntary herein) restoration. The 1989 “No Net Loss” (NNL) policy stated the Federal government's intent that losses of wetlands would be offset by at least as many gains of wetlands. However, coastal wetlands losses result from both regulated and non-regulated activities. We examined the effectiveness of Federally funded, voluntary restoration efforts in helping avert losses of coastal wetlands by assessing: (1) What are the current and past trends in coastal wetland change in the U.S.?; and (2) How much and where are voluntary restoration efforts occurring? First, we calculated palustrine and estuarine wetland change in U.S. coastal shoreline counties using data from NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program, which integrates both types of potential losses and gains. We then synthesized available data on Federally funded, voluntary restoration of coastal wetlands. We found that from 1996 to 2010, the U.S. lost 139,552 acres (~565 km2) of estuarine wetlands (2.5% of 1996 area) and 336,922 acres (~1,363 km2) of palustrine wetlands (1.4%). From 2006 to 2015, restoration of 145,442 acres (~589 km2) of estuarine wetlands and 154,772 acres (~626 km2) of palustrine wetlands occurred. Further, wetland losses and restoration were not always geographically aligned, resulting in local and regional “winners” and “losers.” While these restoration efforts have been considerable, restoration and mitigation collectively have not been able to keep pace with wetland losses; thus, reversing this trend will likely require greater investment in coastal habitat conservation and restoration efforts. We further conclude that “area restored,” the most prevalent metric used to assess progress, is inadequate, as it does not necessarily equate to restoration of functions. Assessing the effectiveness of wetland restoration not just in the U.S., but globally, will require allocation of sufficient funding for long-term monitoring of restored wetland functions, as well as implementation of standardized methods for monitoring data collection, synthesis, interpretation, and application.

ACS Style

Rachel K. Gittman; Christopher J. Baillie; Katie K. Arkema; Richard O. Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Julien Brun; Anthony Chatwin; Allison Colden; Alyssa Dausman; Bryan DeAngelis; Nathaniel Herold; Jessica Henkel; Rachel Houge; Ronald Howard; A. Randall Hughes; Steven B. Scyphers; Tisa Shostik; Ariana Sutton-Grier; Jonathan H. Grabowski. Voluntary Restoration: Mitigation's Silent Partner in the Quest to Reverse Coastal Wetland Loss in the USA. Frontiers in Marine Science 2019, 6, 1 .

AMA Style

Rachel K. Gittman, Christopher J. Baillie, Katie K. Arkema, Richard O. Bennett, Jeff Benoit, Seth Blitch, Julien Brun, Anthony Chatwin, Allison Colden, Alyssa Dausman, Bryan DeAngelis, Nathaniel Herold, Jessica Henkel, Rachel Houge, Ronald Howard, A. Randall Hughes, Steven B. Scyphers, Tisa Shostik, Ariana Sutton-Grier, Jonathan H. Grabowski. Voluntary Restoration: Mitigation's Silent Partner in the Quest to Reverse Coastal Wetland Loss in the USA. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2019; 6 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rachel K. Gittman; Christopher J. Baillie; Katie K. Arkema; Richard O. Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Julien Brun; Anthony Chatwin; Allison Colden; Alyssa Dausman; Bryan DeAngelis; Nathaniel Herold; Jessica Henkel; Rachel Houge; Ronald Howard; A. Randall Hughes; Steven B. Scyphers; Tisa Shostik; Ariana Sutton-Grier; Jonathan H. Grabowski. 2019. "Voluntary Restoration: Mitigation's Silent Partner in the Quest to Reverse Coastal Wetland Loss in the USA." Frontiers in Marine Science 6, no. : 1.

Communication
Published: 27 April 2018 in Ecological Applications
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Nature‐based solutions, such as living shorelines, have the potential to restore critical ecosystems, enhance coastal sustainability, and increase resilience to natural disasters; however, their efficacy during storm events compared to traditional hardened shorelines is largely untested. This is a major impediment to their implementation and promotion to policy‐makers and homeowners. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated rock sill living shorelines as compared to natural marshes and hardened shorelines (i.e., bulkheads) in North Carolina, USA for changes in surface elevation, Spartina alterniflora stem density, and structural damage from 2015 to 2017, including before and after Hurricane Matthew (2016). Our results show that living shorelines exhibited better resistance to landward erosion during Hurricane Matthew than bulkheads and natural marshes. Additionally, living shorelines were more resilient than hardened shorelines, as they maintained landward elevation over the two‐year study period without requiring any repair. Finally, rock sill living shorelines were able to enhance S. alterniflora stem densities over time when compared to natural marshes. Our results suggest that living shorelines have the potential to improve coastal resilience while supporting important coastal ecosystems.

ACS Style

Carter S. Smith; Brandon Puckett; Rachel K. Gittman; Charles H. Peterson. Living shorelines enhanced the resilience of saltmarshes to Hurricane Matthew (2016). Ecological Applications 2018, 28, 871 -877.

AMA Style

Carter S. Smith, Brandon Puckett, Rachel K. Gittman, Charles H. Peterson. Living shorelines enhanced the resilience of saltmarshes to Hurricane Matthew (2016). Ecological Applications. 2018; 28 (4):871-877.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Carter S. Smith; Brandon Puckett; Rachel K. Gittman; Charles H. Peterson. 2018. "Living shorelines enhanced the resilience of saltmarshes to Hurricane Matthew (2016)." Ecological Applications 28, no. 4: 871-877.

Perspective
Published: 15 February 2018 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Much of the United States’ critical infrastructure is either aging or requires significant repair, leaving U.S. communities and the economy vulnerable. Outdated and dilapidated infrastructure places coastal communities, in particular, at risk from the increasingly frequent and intense coastal storm events and rising sea levels. Therefore, investments in coastal infrastructure are urgently needed to ensure community safety and prosperity; however, these investments should not jeopardize the ecosystems and natural resources that underlie economic wealth and human well-being. Over the past 50 years, efforts have been made to integrate built infrastructure with natural landscape features, often termed “green” infrastructure, in order to sustain and restore valuable ecosystem functions and services. For example, significant advances have been made in implementing green infrastructure approaches for stormwater management, wastewater treatment, and drinking water conservation and delivery. However, the implementation of natural and nature-based infrastructure (NNBI) aimed at flood prevention and coastal erosion protection is lagging. There is an opportunity now, as the U.S. government reacts to the recent, unprecedented flooding and hurricane damage and considers greater infrastructure investments, to incorporate NNBI into coastal infrastructure projects. Doing so will increase resilience and provide critical services to local communities in a cost-effective manner and thereby help to sustain a growing economy.

ACS Style

Ariana Sutton-Grier; Rachel Gittman; Katie Arkema; Richard Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Kelly Burks-Copes; Allison Colden; Alyssa Dausman; Bryan DeAngelis; A. Hughes; Steven Scyphers; Jonathan Grabowski. Investing in Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure: Building Better Along Our Coasts. Sustainability 2018, 10, 523 .

AMA Style

Ariana Sutton-Grier, Rachel Gittman, Katie Arkema, Richard Bennett, Jeff Benoit, Seth Blitch, Kelly Burks-Copes, Allison Colden, Alyssa Dausman, Bryan DeAngelis, A. Hughes, Steven Scyphers, Jonathan Grabowski. Investing in Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure: Building Better Along Our Coasts. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (2):523.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ariana Sutton-Grier; Rachel Gittman; Katie Arkema; Richard Bennett; Jeff Benoit; Seth Blitch; Kelly Burks-Copes; Allison Colden; Alyssa Dausman; Bryan DeAngelis; A. Hughes; Steven Scyphers; Jonathan Grabowski. 2018. "Investing in Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure: Building Better Along Our Coasts." Sustainability 10, no. 2: 523.

Journal article
Published: 28 September 2017 in Journal of Animal Ecology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Quantifying the response of mobile consumers to changes in habitat availability is essential for determining the degree to which population-level productivity is habitat limited rather than regulated by other, potentially density-independent factors. Over landscape scales, this can be explored by monitoring changes in density and foraging as habitat availability varies. As habitat availability increases, densities may: (1) decrease (unit-area production decreases; weak habitat limitation); (2) remain stable (unit-area production remains stable; habitat limitation) or (3) increase (unit-area production increases; strong habitat limitation). We tested the response of mobile estuarine consumers over 5 months to changes in habitat availability in situ by comparing densities and feeding rates on artificial reefs that were or were not adjacent to neighbouring artificial reefs or nearby natural reefs. Using either constructed or natural reefs to manipulate habitat availability, we documented threefold density decreases among juvenile stone crabs as habitat increased (i.e. weak habitat imitation). However, for adult stone crabs, density remained stable across treatments, demonstrating that habitat limitation presents a bottleneck in this species' later life history. Oyster toadfish densities also did not change with increasing habitat availability (i.e. habitat limitation), but densities of other cryptic fishes decreased as habitat availability increased (i.e. weak limitation). Feeding and abundance data suggested that some mobile fishes experience habitat limitation, or, potentially in one case, strong limitation across our habitat manipulations. These findings of significant, community-level habitat limitation provide insight into how global declines in structurally complex estuarine habitats may have reduced the fishery production of coastal ecosystems.

ACS Style

Danielle A. Keller; Rachel K. Gittman; Rachel K. Bouchillon; F. Joel Fodrie. Life stage and species identity affect whether habitat subsidies enhance or simply redistribute consumer biomass. Journal of Animal Ecology 2017, 86, 1394 -1403.

AMA Style

Danielle A. Keller, Rachel K. Gittman, Rachel K. Bouchillon, F. Joel Fodrie. Life stage and species identity affect whether habitat subsidies enhance or simply redistribute consumer biomass. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2017; 86 (6):1394-1403.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Danielle A. Keller; Rachel K. Gittman; Rachel K. Bouchillon; F. Joel Fodrie. 2017. "Life stage and species identity affect whether habitat subsidies enhance or simply redistribute consumer biomass." Journal of Animal Ecology 86, no. 6: 1394-1403.

Article
Published: 14 August 2017 in Estuaries and Coasts
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Foundation species regulate communities by reducing environmental stress and providing habitat for other species. Successful restoration of biogenic habitats often depends on restoring foundation species at appropriate spatial scales within a suitable range of environmental conditions. An improved understanding of the relationship between restoration scale and environmental conditions has the potential to improve restoration outcomes for many biogenic habitats. Here, we identified and tested whether inundation/exposure stress and spatial scale (patch size) can interactively determine (1) survival and growth of a foundation species, Spartina alterniflora and (2) recruitment of supported fauna. We planted S. alterniflora and artificial mimics in large and small patches at elevations above and below local mean sea level (LMSL) and monitored plant survivorship and production, as well as faunal recruitment. In the first growing season, S. alterniflora plant survivorship and stem densities were greater above LMSL than below LMSL regardless of patch size, while stem height was greatest in small patches below LMSL. By the third growing season, S. alterniflora patch expansion was greater above LMSL than below LMSL, while stem densities were higher in large patches than small patches, regardless of location relative to LMSL. Unlike S. alterniflora, which was more productive above LMSL, sessile marine biota recruitment to mimic plants was higher in patches below LMSL than above LMSL. Our results highlight an ecological tradeoff at ~LMSL between foundation species restoration and faunal recruitment. Increasing patch size as inundation increases may offset this tradeoff and enhance resilience of restored marshes to sea-level rise.

ACS Style

Rachel K. Gittman; F. Joel Fodrie; Christopher J. Baillie; Michelle C. Brodeur; Carolyn A. Currin; Danielle A. Keller; Matthew D. Kenworthy; Joseph P. Morton; Justin T. Ridge; Y. Stacy Zhang. Living on the Edge: Increasing Patch Size Enhances the Resilience and Community Development of a Restored Salt Marsh. Estuaries and Coasts 2017, 41, 884 -895.

AMA Style

Rachel K. Gittman, F. Joel Fodrie, Christopher J. Baillie, Michelle C. Brodeur, Carolyn A. Currin, Danielle A. Keller, Matthew D. Kenworthy, Joseph P. Morton, Justin T. Ridge, Y. Stacy Zhang. Living on the Edge: Increasing Patch Size Enhances the Resilience and Community Development of a Restored Salt Marsh. Estuaries and Coasts. 2017; 41 (3):884-895.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rachel K. Gittman; F. Joel Fodrie; Christopher J. Baillie; Michelle C. Brodeur; Carolyn A. Currin; Danielle A. Keller; Matthew D. Kenworthy; Joseph P. Morton; Justin T. Ridge; Y. Stacy Zhang. 2017. "Living on the Edge: Increasing Patch Size Enhances the Resilience and Community Development of a Restored Salt Marsh." Estuaries and Coasts 41, no. 3: 884-895.

Conference paper
Published: 26 July 2017 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Carbon burial is increasingly valued as a service provided by threatened vegetated coastal habitats. Similarly, shellfish reefs contain significant pools of carbon and are globally endangered, yet considerable uncertainty remains regarding shellfish reefs' role as sources (+) or sinks (-) of atmospheric CO2 While CO2 release is a by-product of carbonate shell production (then burial), shellfish also facilitate atmospheric-CO2 drawdown via filtration and rapid biodeposition of carbon-fixing primary producers. We provide a framework to account for the dual burial of inorganic and organic carbon, and demonstrate that decade-old experimental reefs on intertidal sandflats were net sources of CO2 (7.1 ± 1.2 MgC ha-1 yr-1 (µ ± s.e.)) resulting from predominantly carbonate deposition, whereas shallow subtidal reefs (-1.0 ± 0.4 MgC ha-1 yr-1) and saltmarsh-fringing reefs (-1.3 ± 0.4 MgC ha-1 yr-1) were dominated by organic-carbon-rich sediments and functioned as net carbon sinks (on par with vegetated coastal habitats). These landscape-level differences reflect gradients in shellfish growth, survivorship and shell bioerosion. Notably, down-core carbon concentrations in 100- to 4000-year-old reefs mirrored experimental-reef data, suggesting our results are relevant over centennial to millennial scales, although we note that these natural reefs appeared to function as slight carbon sources (0.5 ± 0.3 MgC ha-1 yr-1). Globally, the historical mining of the top metre of shellfish reefs may have reintroduced more than 400 000 000 Mg of organic carbon into estuaries. Importantly, reef formation and destruction do not have reciprocal, counterbalancing impacts on atmospheric CO2 since excavated organic material may be remineralized while shell may experience continued preservation through reburial. Thus, protection of existing reefs could be considered as one component of climate mitigation programmes focused on the coastal zone.

ACS Style

F. Joel Fodrie; Antonio B. Rodriguez; Rachel K. Gittman; Jonathan H. Grabowski; Niels. L. Lindquist; Charles H. Peterson; Michael F. Piehler; Justin T. Ridge. Oyster reefs as carbon sources and sinks. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2017, 284, 20170891 .

AMA Style

F. Joel Fodrie, Antonio B. Rodriguez, Rachel K. Gittman, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Niels. L. Lindquist, Charles H. Peterson, Michael F. Piehler, Justin T. Ridge. Oyster reefs as carbon sources and sinks. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2017; 284 (1859):20170891.

Chicago/Turabian Style

F. Joel Fodrie; Antonio B. Rodriguez; Rachel K. Gittman; Jonathan H. Grabowski; Niels. L. Lindquist; Charles H. Peterson; Michael F. Piehler; Justin T. Ridge. 2017. "Oyster reefs as carbon sources and sinks." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1859: 20170891.